


home is where the heart is

by desitonystark



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Episode: s02e17 Kupale (Defender), M/M, Pre-Slash, alternate beginning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:29:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26492674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/desitonystark/pseuds/desitonystark
Summary: Steve doesn’t think of himself as a neat freak. He’ll be the first to admit that he likes order, it’s the by-product of being raised by a father who believed any mess meant chaos and spending most of his adult life in the Navy, but he wouldn’t go as far as to call himself a neat freak.He just thinks that everything has its place, and that life is easier when things are in their place. It soothes him, knowing that everything is where it’s supposed to be.So when he comes home from his reverse duty to find his entire house looking like it’s been taken over by some sort of clothes tornado, it instantly sets off all the wrong alarms for him.(alternate beginning for s2.17, written for the discord challenge: snuggles and hammocks)
Relationships: Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams
Comments: 9
Kudos: 86
Collections: Snuggles and Hammocks





	home is where the heart is

**Author's Note:**

> i've been wanting to write a fic about Danny and Agent Monica Jensen's dog since I rewatched the episode a couple days ago, and I couldn't resist making Danny snuggle w a dog when this prompt came through!!

Steve doesn’t think of himself as a neat freak. He’ll be the first to admit that he likes order, it’s the by-product of being raised by a father who believed any mess meant chaos and spending most of his adult life in the Navy, but he wouldn’t go as far as to call himself a neat freak.

He just thinks that everything has its place, and that life is easier when things are in their place. It soothes him, knowing that everything is where it’s supposed to be. 

So when he comes home from his reverse duty to find his entire house looking like it’s been taken over by some sort of clothes tornado, it instantly sets off all the wrong alarms for him. 

He gingerly reaches out and grabs the t-shirt strewn over his chair, and tosses it into what looks like an ever growing pile at the corner of his couch, and spends exactly five seconds wondering whether it’s worth the effort to clean it before deciding that it’s Danny’s mess and it should be his responsibility.

Speaking of -

“Danny!” he calls out, because some small part of him expected Danny to be waiting at the front door, even though he’s a couple of days early and he didn’t call to say he was flying in early, “Danny where are you?”

“Out here!” comes the voice from the lanai, and Steve drops his duffel bag on the chair and follows the sound of Danny’s voice. The door is already open, just enough that Steve can slip through without having to crack it further open, and it serves the purpose of Steve getting a couple of seconds to observe Danny before Danny realises that he’s there.

Danny’s lounging out on a hammock, which is odd in and of itself because Steve wasn’t aware that he had a hammock, much less one big enough for a grown man to sleep on; and from the looks of it - if Steve hadn’t seen the mess of clothes inside, he would’ve thought that Danny was living out on the hammock.

There's a pillow nestled behind his neck, and a thin blanket covering most of his legs, bunched up at his hips, and Steve would put money on the fact that Danny was napping out here before he called out his name.

Still, the thing that Steve is most focused on is the  _ dog _ currently resting on Danny’s chest; eyes shut and tailing hanging off the hammock; legs awkwardly arranged in a position that looks extremely uncomfortable, even though both man and dog seem quite content.

“You brought the dog here?” is the first thing Steve asks, because he was under the impression that the dog was living in Rachel’s house and being suitably pampered by Grace, since Danny doesn’t exactly have what one would call stable living arrangements right now and that’s not conducive to dog rearing.

Danny cracks a single eye open, his hand slowing from where it’s petting the dog in between his ears, and he grins up at Steve. 

Steve resolutely ignores the way the grin stirs feelings he’s not ready to examine yet in favour of Danny’s response.

“It wasn’t a planned thing,” Danny admits, “but Rachel had to leave for a last minute business trip, and she couldn’t find anybody to look after Spot, so I offered to take him in for a few days. Figured you wouldn’t mind, and even if you did - he’d be gone before you even noticed.”

“You were not supposed to be back until Friday. Today is not Friday. What, you couldn’t give me a call? Let me know you were coming? I would’ve straightened up the house for you, picked you up from the airport.”

“I wanted it to be a surprise,” Steve says, “and trust me, it’s very clear that you were not expecting me back home today. You know when I asked you to house-sit, somehow, this is not what I was expecting.”

Danny opens both eyes at that, “Hey there is an order to that mess in there. Everything is in piles. Messy piles, I’ll admit, but piles.”

“So that was on purpose?” Steve quirks an eyebrow, “and what about the cremated eggs in my kitchen sink? Were you trying to give them a proper send off? Because I don’t think the priest does ceremonies for eggs.”

“That was an ill-advised attempt at making a frittata,” Danny wrinkles his nose, “Gracie went to some fancy restaurant last weekend with Stan and Rachel, before she got dropped off. All weekend I’m all hearing is how amazing this frittata is, and how I should’ve been there to eat it, and how it’s the best thing she’s ever had. Thought I’d surprise her next weekend. Clearly, things didn’t go according to plan.”

“And the hammock?” Steve gives it an experimental tug, sending it swinging lightly. The movement jostles the dog, who opens his eyes in a way not unlike Danny had a couple moments ago, but doesn’t do more than wag his tail softly. “You renovating my home or something? Last I remembered, you hated the sound of the ocean.”

“That I do babe, but Spot here,” he scratches the dog’s head, smiling at the whine it elicits, “loves the ocean. Can’t get enough of it. And you know I like sleeping on the couch, which meant either I had to come up with a new solution, or your bed was going to stink of wet dog for the next century. Kono dropped off her hammock last night.”

Danny shifts in the hammock, to face Steve more completely, “these things are surprisingly comfortable. I fell asleep in seconds.”

“I’m glad you like the hammock,” Steve says dryly, “but if you would be so kind as to exit it and clean up my house so that it doesn’t look like Hurricane Walmart went through it, I would be much obliged.”

“Hey!” Danny waggles a finger at him, “I don’t shop at Walmart. That’s all you babe. My stuff is quality.”

“I’m sure it is Danno, but I would really like to stop seeing your stuff everywhere I turn.”

Danny reaches over and taps the dog twice, and the dog jumps off the hammock and falls onto his feet, a couple of steps away from Danny. Danny takes a little bit longer, and it’s clear that he hasn’t completely thought this through because the blanket is tangled up around his feet, so Steve decides to help - extending his hands for Danny to grab onto as Danny pushes himself up.

They misjudge the weight they’re putting on the hammock though, and the hammock shifts, sending both of them swinging wildly, and making Steve half fall onto Danny. He manages to get his bearings and plant his feet firmly on the ground, stilling them - but it’s only when he looks up that he realises how close the resulting motion brought them together, close enough that Steve can count every single individual lash framing Danny’s eyes.

Danny’s tongue darts out, as if on instinct, to wet his lips, and Steve’s eyes fall, tracking the motion. He swallows, and opens his mouth to say something,  _ anything _ but before he gets a chance - his phone starts buzzing in his pocket; startling the both of them.

There’s a second where he just wants to let it ring, but it’s a second too late because Danny is already pulling away, so Steve leans back and fishes his phone out of his pocket.

“McGarrett,” he says when he slides his thumb to answer, bringing the phone to his ear, and in front of him, Danny has managed to successfully untangle the blanket and is stepping out of the hammock, bending down to pet the dog lightly, “Understood. We’ll be there in 20.”

_ Fin _

**Author's Note:**

> [i'm also on tumblr](https://danny-williams.tumblr.com)   
> 


End file.
